Preparations for Married Life

This image of the boys bonding before the wedding service was done in a matter of seconds. Wedding photography is a tough business and the pressure to get the shot under difficult lighting conditions with the clock ticking is what determines success on the day. Fortunately the groom, Richard, and best Man, Frank, have significant experience in film and television. That made the job somewhat easier.

I’ve mentioned in a previous post that both Richard and Pat, the groomsman in the front right of the pic, are my eldest sister Maree’s boys. You might also be interested to know that Daniel, the young gentleman on the left side of the bar, the one with the surfer/look what the cat dragged in hair cut, is my younger sister Gabrielle’s oldest child.

While the sports bar at the Grand Hotel in Mildura provided the right setting for the shot, the light levels were very low. I needed a mid range aperture to ensure Depth of Field covered all the guys. I settled on f5.6. ISO 1600 was employed to provide me with 1/8 second shutter speed. I added some fill flash to even out the lighting on the lad’s faces and help combat camera movement at what is a dangerously slow shutter speed for hand-held photography. Given the compromises of shooting at ISO 1600, I’m very happy with the result.

As usually Adobe Lightroom was used to convert the original color image into black-and-white. Adobe Photoshop was employed for final tonal distribution.